GARBAGE pedicab will soon hit the streets of Ipil, the capital town of Zamboanga Sibugay, to collect garbage along the national highways leading to the town.
These human-powered garbage pedicabs will be deployed along the national highways daily to ensure that these roads are clean and free from garbage.
"The concept is to have these pedicabs be driven by workers hired by the local government to help in the campaign to keep the town clean and green," said Mayor Anamel Olegario in an interview with SunStar Philippines.
The local government, she said, has envisioned "a greener and cleaner Ipil," adding that there are no other ways could the campaign be cleaner than the use of pedicabs.
This, she said, is the reason the use of pedicabs in garbage collection and other ventures have been increasingly in use.
She added that while trash trucks are pollution-emitter -- burning fuel and produce carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds -- pedicab is a clean alternative.
Garbage trucks also create strain on the road, the repair of which is funded from public funds, and cut costs on expenditures such as fuel, trucks, and labor.
"We are creating an alternative to traditional ways how to collect the garbage while minimizing the costs on the use of garbage trucks," the mayor said.
She added that the use of garbage pedicabs will make room for additional savings by employing human-powered solutions to clean the environment.
The local government has initially funded the purchase of 24 units of garbage pedicabs.
Ultimately, Olegario said, this kind of initiative will reward everyone in the community through a sustainable and healthy community program. (SunStar Philippines)